Only 5 flights

Expecting JB to be crawling all over the field collecting irrigation pipes, I only charged enough for two flights on the 7HV and three on the Factor 3D.  I was of course wrong...all the pipes were gone and there were zero workers to be found.  Oh well.  I did get to fly in peace then mow the few green blades of grass on our runway.  Both aircraft flew well and i am enjoying both.

Instant replay almost

Today was virtually the same as yesterday except dead calm today.  Very nice flying conditions with good visibility albeit hazy due to wildfire smoke pervading the PNW!  I had the same helis and numbers of flights: 4 on the X5, 3 on the G500, and 2 on the 7HV, utilizing all eleven 4000 packs.  Also flew the Star today instead of mini Star, and had 6 packs for it.  Sustained elevator damage due to slight midair with Jerry's Delta Ray foamie as we tried to fly in formation and make low passes over the runway.  Great fun.  The helis were all awesome and I flew the same way as yesterday, with perhaps more half rolls out of inverted.  While improvement is slow, I do see it happening.  I was not rolling out of inverted just last week.

Very nice flying day!

I had a little company all the time I was at the field today.  First Bob and Mike were there very early, and leaving by about 8AM for their breakfast after flying.  As they left, Don and Jerry arrived.  Brian came just a bit later.  Then they all departed and Steve arrived as they left.  Finally John showed up at nearly 11:00  when the wind was up, but he flew anyway.  I was actually almost done when Steve arrived but I stayed to watch him fly, as well as John.

Anyway, I flew 11 packs through the helis: 4 on the X5, 3 on the G500, and 4 on the 7HV (for two flights.)  With the last adjustments to the derivative gain (decreasing it 2 points from default setting in the iKon), the 7HV seems to fly fine enough to not worry about any more adjustments in tail gain until I get used to the heli.  With all three helis today, I flipped lower and played with inverted more.  Instead of the usual continuation of the back flip to return to upright, I did quite a few forward flips instead.  This is probably safer since the heli stays at altitude or gains, rather than drops.  In an emergency the former would be better.  Felt really good about flying today, likely due to great visibility in the sunny (but later smokey) sky today.

I ended the day with 3 packs through the mini Star, a fun and fast plane!

Happy Dozen

I had a great time flying with Tad this morning.  I got about 6 flights with my helis before he came, but still had 4 more while he was there.  In all, I got in 4 flights on the X5, 3 on the  G500, and 3 on the new 7HV.  I made sure Tad got to see two of the flights of the 7HV since he had not seen it fly before.  Today was calm and sunny so visibility was good.  I was able to bring my back flips to inverted lower than I have before, and it was spooky once or twice, but it was of course much easier to see the helis!  The 7HV was fun but had a fast waggle to the tail at the beginning of the first flight, then seemed either to diminish or I got oblivious to it on the other flights.  I still am going to adjust the differential gain in the iKon.  I think I increased the default setting, and will now decrease it since the waggle was worse today than before I set the increase.

7HV!  Photo by Tad, thx very much!!

Tad had a misfortune on the first flight of his G570.  He was flying fine, then got into an inverted hover.  The heli almost seemed to power down, as it descended slowly to the ground.  He kept it flat and it crashed into the short grass of the North field.  It looked like the only thing broken was a landing gear support, so Tad set her on the tarmac to throttle up and look for things like bent shafts or blade holders with the blades spinning. None were observed so he went ahead and lifted off!  Later he told me he likely made a pilot error...he thinks maybe he did not go to IU after take off, therefore had too little negative pitch for sustained inverted hover.  Stuff happens to the best!  Luckily only pride was damaged other than the one LG support, which he has already found and ordered online, lol.

After my helis, I had two 10-minute flights on the Aerostar 40 in the rapidly increasing and gusting wind.  It was total fun to play with the plane in the wind, shooting passes and touch and gos on the short NS runway!

BTW I also flew Saturday.  Got in 4 flights on the X5.   Main purpose was to fly the Bravata.  It ran perfect the first flight, then flamed out in the middle of the second.  Luckily hit the runway on the deadstick landing, avoiding the irrigation pipes all about the field.  Found the muffler loose yet again.  Arg.

Early onset alzheimers!

So today i was planning a lot of relaxation via flying the X5 and Bravata.   I got the 4 packs through the X5 without a hitch before anyone else came.   Needed to do that because our good old JB friends were watering the helipad again.  So i needed to take off and land using the main runway.   Got that done and moved the xB to the gasser area for assembly of the Bravata.  That went well, about 20-30 minutes of work.  And then i tried to start the engine.   Not a sound out of the DLE-30!   Kept trying and got frustrated and tired so I gave up and disassembled the plane, and drove home.

At home i took off the the cowl and checked the ignition  battery, then the spark plug to ensure i was getting spark.   Next checked the fuel lines and tank.   Then the carb.  Tried starting the engine outside at various points.

Finally the engine ran as i fiddled with choke and throttle settings.  Nothing wrong with DLE-30!  I am a lame brain.  I was pulling on choke to get it to first bark.  It has to be pushed in.  Dunno why i was thinking backwards .   I think i have early onset alzheimers already.   Well, i tested batt, spark, and fuel tank at home, driving self crazy.   Hate myself.

Got it to run in sideyard and noted reverse of choke stick from what i was doing this morn at field.   Good grief.  Now i can put it all back together but i am resting after the copious amounts of frustration suffered unnecessarily!

Heli fun!

Nice calm weather and cool temps this AM, so it was great except for overcast at first, that cleared somewhat as the morning progressed.  I flew the G500 three packs, then used my other 10 packs in pairs to yield 3 flights on the new 7HV, and 2 on the G630.  The 7HV has a little rebound on the tail after releasing the stick sharply, so looks like I will decrease the i gain back to 23.  The tail wag seems to be gone, so tail gain remains set at 41 in the iKon.  Other than that the 7HV is fun to fly, so big and stable, and easy to see due to its hugeness!  The 500 and 630 were great as usual.

Ready for departure to the field!

Also flew the Aerostar 40.  I used the two 4s packs for the full 10 minute timed flights.  Tried the 3s pack, and while the plane flies, it reminds me of the good old days of underpowered RC planes, flying on the wing and being careful not to get too slow and low at the same time.

More 7HV delight!

Started the flying with 4 packs through the X5, then 2 flights on the 7HV, next 3 on the G500, and finally one on the TREX 450 DFC.   All were good, but due to JB watering the helipad, i had to take off from a small dry corner of the pad and land on the grass runway.  Fortunately the grass is short, dry, hard, and easy to land on.    The 7HV flew very well but it still has a small tail wag.  So I came home and decreased the tail gain from 43 to 41.  I also raised the integral tail gain back up to 25, the default value.  It seems like reducing it to 23 did not improve the tail wag at all for today's flights.   All in all though, the 7HV is going to be a really fun helicopter to fly on a regular basis!

7HV success!

On Sunday i maidened the Compass 7HV with limited success.  It flew but had a definite tail wag with oscillations about an inch or two, several per second.  I put it away and flew my x5 and g500 six and four packs respectively.   Also flew the mini Star four times.

At home i got advice from cousin and friend, but also some hands on help from jeremy and tad to figure out what the issue was.  It turns out the tail slider was too draggy due to the three ball links binding with the balls.   I used the sizing tool and got them loosened up.   Today i flew the heli with great success and happiness.   There is still a small tail wag now and then, but it is very flyable.  On the second flight today, i did a flip in each direction just to feel it out more.   This heli is rock solid in the air and i think it will be a fave pretty quickly!

Today i also got in four flights on the x5, three on the g500, and four on the mini Star.  Winds were 5mph+ but it was not a problem.